YouTube and WhatsApp: These iPhones soon won't be allowed to participate

Meta and Google have removed a number of older iPhones from support for two of their most popular apps. The current versions of WhatsApp (25.16.81) and YouTube (20.22.1) for iOS now require certain operating system versions that are no longer available for these devices.

WhatsApp: iPhones can be up to ten years old

Messenger WhatsApp now requires at least iOS 15.1 (currently iOS 18.5). This means that the current version of the application can no longer be installed on iPhones 6, 6 Plus and 5s; earlier devices were excluded anyway. This means that owners of these iPhones can only use WhatsApp via the web interface at web.whatsapp.com, although there may also be restrictions here if the old Safari version is no longer supported one day. The user experience is also significantly worse.

The iPhone 6 and 6 Plus were launched in 2014, the iPhone 5s in 2013, so these are very old devices. Nevertheless, there are still some users who use them, even though Apple has long since stopped offering security updates. iPadOS 15.1 is also a prerequisite for WhatsApp on the iPad. After a long wait, Meta recently introduced a tablet version of the messenger for the first time. If you want to switch from an old iPhone or iPad to a new model, you can use the WhatsApp backup function to avoid losing any chats.

YouTube: Google even stricter

The YouTube app has even stricter requirements than WhatsApp. In the future, a device with iOS 16 will be required; iOS 15 will no longer be supported. This means: iPhone 6s, 6s Plus, 7 and 7 Plus are out. These models were released in 2015 and 2016. Finally, the first generation of the iPhone SE is also affected, as it is no longer compatible with iOS 16. This model came onto the market in 2015.

YouTube can still be used in the browser on these devices too; however, there is no guarantee here either, as Apple no longer provides updates and Google could one day use newer Safari features. In addition to iPhone users, iPad users are also impacted: iPad Air 2 (2014) and iPad Mini 4 (2015) are out of YouTube. The same applies to the seventh-generation iPod touch.

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